Method and apparatus for affixing a zip fastener to a supporting article

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for affixing a zip fastener to a supporting article. A sewing machine is provided with a workpiece support on which an article and a zip fastener to be secured thereto may be placed. Holding means is provided for holding the zip fastener and the article in their desired relative positions during sewing, and moving means serves to move either the workpiece support with the article and zip fastener relative to the needle, or move the workpiece support and the holding means in unison, together with the zip fastener and article.

United States Patent Inventor Friedrich Glindmeyer Stolberg, Rhineland, Germany Appl. No. 856,377 Filed Sept. 9, 1969 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 Assignee Firma William Prym-Werke KG Stolberg, Rhineland, Germany Priority Sept. 10, 1968 Germany P 17 85 311.1

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AF FIXING A ZIP FASTENER TO A SUPPORTING ARTICLE 10 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 112/105 Int. Cl. D05b 3/04, D05b 3/18 Field 01' Search l 12/ 104,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,776,635 l/ 1957 Blumenkrantz 1 12/105 2,977,904 4/1961 Carmen 1 12/105 3,016,028 l/l962 Schreck et al. 112/105 3,128,730 4/1964 Simon 112/105 X 3,244,129 4/1966 Steingruebner 1 12/105 3,286,668 1 H1966 Rockerath et al. 112/105 X Primary Examiner-Jordan Franklin Assistant Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin AttorneyMichael S. Striker ABSTRACT: A method and an apparatus for affixing a zip fastener to a supporting article. A sewing machine is provided with a workpiece support on which an article and a zip fastener to be secured thereto may be placed. Holding means is provided for holding the zip fastener and the article in their desired relative positions during sewing, and moving means serves to move either the workpiece support with the article and zip fastener relative to the needle, or move the workpiece support and the holding means in unison, together with the zip fastener and article.

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METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AFFIXING A ZIlP FASTENER TO A SUPPORTING ARTICLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to the affixing of zip fasteners to supporting articles, particularly garments. More specifically the invention relates to the affixing by sewing the zip fastener to the supporting article. It is of course well known to affix zip fasteners to a supporting article, hereafter for the sake of convenience identified as a garment, by sewing them together. Sewing machines for this purpose are well known. To effect the afiixing, the zip fastener-which may either be a finished fastener with end stops and slider or which may be a length severed from a supply roll of a fastener with the end stops and the slider to be secured subsequently to the severed length-is placed onto the garment in requisite position, and then the two are moved beneath the needle or needles of the sewing machine to be secured together by sewing. However, this is an operation which requires skilled personnel if the zip fastener is to be properly and neatly secured to the garment. The reason for this is that heretofore it has always been necessary to guide both the zip fastener and the portion of the article to which the zip fastener is being afiixed, by hand which obviously requires skill and precision on the part of the machine operator. The task is further complicated by the fact that during the sewing and guidance beneath the needle or I needles of the sewing machine the zip fastener and the material of the garment behave differently.

SUMMARY OF THE'INVENTION zip fastener to a garment or other supporting article without dependence upon and irrespective of the skill of the machine operator.

In pursuance of the above objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in a method of sewing a zip fastener to a supporting article, particularly a garment, which method comprises, briefly stated, placing the zip fastener in the desired position onto a portion of the article, clamping the zip fastener and the article together, and moving the zip fastener to the article as a unit while sewing the former to the latter.

My novel apparatus utilizes a sewing machine having at least one sewing needle, and being provided with workpiece support means on which an article and a zip fastener are supported in requisite relative positions. Holding means is provided for holding the article and zip fastener in their positions on the workpiece support means, and moving means serves to move at least the workpiece support means with the zip fastener and article thereon in a predetermined path with reference to the needle.

In accordance with my invention it is possible to either use a complete zip fastener, that is a zip fastener having end stops and a slider, or to use lengths severed from a supply roll of zip fastener, with the end stops and the slider being supplied subsequent to severing. Advantageously the end stops are applied to the severed length simultaneously or subsequently to severing of the length from the remainder of the supply, but before the fastener is clamped to the garment, with the slider being provided when the sewing of the zip fastener to the garment is completed.

It is advantageous for the workpiece support means to be readily mountable and demountable on the sewing machine, so that such a sewing machine may be provided with two or more of these workpiece support means. In this manner one of the workpiece support means may be connected with the machine and the machine may be sewing the zip fastener and garment on this one workpiece support means together, while one or more additional workpiece support means are being loaded, that is a zip fastener and a garment are arranged in their desired relative positions on the additional workpiece support means and are clamped thereon so that the additional support means can subsequently be connected with the machine for sewing.

If the workpiece support means is utilized with a sewing machine of the type using twin needles, a longitudinal movement is sufficient for the workpiece support means to effect affixing of the zip fastener to the garment. However, if the machine is of the single-needle type, it is necessary that the workpiece support means be capable of performing not only a longitudinal movement but also a transverse movement so that when a seam has been sewn down one side of the zip fastener, the workpiece support means may be moved laterally or transversely so that the single needle can then sew a seam down the other side of the zip fastener. Evidently, this is not necessary in a twin-needle machine because these needles are located at opposite sides of the zip fastener and each sew one seam.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary partly sectioned side elevational view of a portion of a twin-needle sewing machine incorporating the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top-plan view of portions of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view analogous to FIG. 1 but illustrating a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a portion of a garment with a zip fastener; and

FIG. 5 is a section on the line V-V of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In discussing the drawing, particularly FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, it is emphasized that of the sewing machine shown there only those parts have been illustrated which are essential for an understanding of the present invention. Sewing machines are well known to those skilled in the art and the present invention is not concemedwith sewing machines per se, so that all such components of conventional sewing machines which are not essential or helpful in understanding the invention have been omitted.

Keeping this in mind, and discussing firstly FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that reference numeral 9 identifies generally a sewing machine which in the illustrated embodiment is a double-needle or twin-needle sewing machine. The machine 9 is provided with two vertically reciprocable sockets 10 each of which holds a sewing needle 11. This of course is already known.

Located below the needles 11 is a support portion 12 provided with a section 13 in which the conventional bobbins are accommodated (not illustrated). Located above the portion 12 is a workpiece support 14 which is horizontally positioned and which comprises a slidable workpiece support portion 17 (compare FIG. 1). The workpiece support 14 is provided with elongated cutouts 15 through which the needles 11 penetrate in usual manner. The direction of elongation of the cutouts 15 is coincident with the direction of movement of the workpiece support portion 17, that is in FIG. 1 normal to the plane of the drawing. Between the cutouts 15, extending in parallelism therewith, is a further cutout 16.

The workpiece support portion 17 is guided for its movement in an upright portion 18 of the machine 9. For this purpose the upright portion 18 is provided with a dovetail-shaped undercut groove 21 and the underside of the portion 17 is provided with a correspondingly undercut projection 20 received in the groove 21. In addition, the underside of the projection 20 is provided with a rack 22 which extends over the entire length of the portion 17, that is normal to the plane of FIG. 1. The rack 22 cams with a pinion 23 which is fixedly mounted on a shaft 25 for rotation with the latter to thus constitute a moving means, the pinion being located in a recess 24 which extends downwardly from the bottom wall of the groove 21 (compare FIG. 1). The shaft 25 is driven by being coupled in suitable nonillustrated manner with the nonillustrated drive of the sewing machine. The manner in which such coupling can be effected, and the manner and type of drive, are conventional and do not form a part of the present invention.

The portion 17 is provided with a downwardly inclined arm 27 having an upward projection 28. Mounted on the upward projection 28 for turning movement about a pivot axis 30 is a double-armed lever 29 whose inner end has pivotably connected thereto at 31 the piston rod 32 of a fluid-operated piston and cylinder unit 33. Reference numeral 34 identifies fluid ports communicating with the interior of the unit 33. These will of course be connected in conventional manner with fluid supply means which has not been illustrated. The opposite end of the lever 29which constitutes a part of the unit which is in toto identified with the arrow 8-is configurated as a holddown or holding member 35 whose outline is more clearly evident from FIG. 2. The length of the holddown 35 corresponds substantially to the length of the workpiece support means 14. The member 35 is provided with a cutout 36 whose width is so selected as to permit passage therethrough of both the needles 11. The length of the cutout 36 corresponds to the length of the cutouts 15.

If a zip fastener 38 is to be sewn to a garment 39 (compare FIGS. 4 and the unit 8 is first operated so as to lift the holddown 35 off the surface of the workpiece support means 14, 17. Now the zip fasteners 38, a supply quantity which is accommodated in the diagrammatically illustrated supply means SM, is withdrawn to the requisite extent from the supply means by diagrammatically shown withdrawing means WM; the withdrawn length is placed onto the workpiece support means 14, 17 in such a manner that its projecting links or engaging portions 37 become located in the cutout 16 intermediate the cutouts 15. Thereupon the edges 40 of the garment 39 which are to be secured to the zip fastener 38, are bent over (compare FIG. 5) and placed onto the zip fastener in such a manner that the bent-over edges 40 face away therefrom, that is that the surface of the garment faces the zip fastener 38, as shown in FIG. 5. Now, the holddown is made to descend by operation of the cylinder and piston unit 33 until it presses the garment against the zip fastener and against the surface of the workpiece support means 14, 17. The zip fastener and the garment are now clamped together and cannot shift relative to one another during sewing. The sewing machine 5 is now activated, causing the needles 11 to perform their normal sewing function which is well known from the art, and simultaneously turning of the shaft 25 because it is coupled in suitable manner therewith. This causes displacement of the workpiece support means l4, 17 in direction normal to the plane of the drawing in FIG. I, so that the workpiece support means, the holddown 35, the zip fastener 38 and the garment 39 are displaced in this direction as a unit below the needles 11, which thus can provide seams at opposite sides of the links 37.

It is pointed out that severing means SVM may be provided for severing the withdrawn length from the supply quantity preparatory to positioning of such length on the workpiece support, and that affixing means AM may be provided for affixing end stops to the severed length before the latter is positioned on the workpiece support. The means SM, WM, SVM and AM themselves are conventional and known in the art.

The embodiment of FIG. 3 differs from that of FIGS. 1 and 2 in the construction of the holddown which clamps the garment and the zip fastener together. In FIG. 3 the holddown is in form of a foot or member 42 which is provided directly on the sewing machine 9 and movable in parallelism with the needles 11, that is up and down in the direction of the doubleheaded arrow in FIG. 3. Of course, unlike the needles the foot 42 does not reciprocate but can be moved up and down at the will of the operator.

The foot 42 is provided with cutouts 43 which are so spaced from one another that the needles 11 each pass through one of the cutouts 43 and can thus enter into the cutouts 15 of the workpiece support l4, 17.

In this embodiment the upper support surface of the workpiece support 14, 17 is provided with a plurality of upwardly projecting pins 44 which serve to position the garment 39 and the zip fastener with reference to one another. It will normally be sufficient to provide four such pins 44, arranged in two layers one of which is located at one end of the workpiece support means 14, 17and thereby adjacent one end of the zip fastener 38and the other of which is located at the other end. The pins 44 of each pair are transversely spaced by a distance which is somewhat smaller than the maximum width of the zip fastener 38. Of course, it need not be emphasized that the zip fastener as always consists of the engaging portions or links 37 and the penetrable strips extending along the links 37 at opposite sides thereof and through which the needles are to sew to secure the zip fastener 38 to the garment 39.

To clamp the garment 39 and the zip fastener 38 together so that they will not move relative to one another during sewing, the foot 42 can be raised or lowered in the sense indicated by the double-headed arrow in FIG. 3. It is lowered when a new zip fastener and new garment are to be placed in position on the workpiece support means 14, 17 in the manner discussed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2. Thereupon the foot 42 is lowered in a manner which is not shown in detail and which does not form a part of the present invention, instrumentalities for this purpose being available and well known to those skilled in the art. When the foot 42 is lowered it rests upon and presses against the garment 39 and zip fastener 38, holding the two together and forcing them onto the projecting pins 44 so that the latter penetrate as indicated in FIG. 3. To prevent breaking off the pins 44-and it must be remembered that the foot 42 does not share the longitudinal movement of the workpiece support means 14, 17 in direction normal to the plane of FIG. 3 analogous to the description which has been rendered above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2-the underside of the foot 42 is provided with respective grooves 45 extending lengthwise of the foot 42, that is in the direction of movement of the workpiece support means 14, 17 and therefore of the pins 44. Thus, the tips of the pins 44 can extend into these grooves 45 and the tips can slide therein as the workpiece support means l4, 17 moves in direction normal to the plane of FIG. 3, together with the garment 39 and the zip fastener 38. The movement of the workpiece support means is of course effected most advantageously in the same manner as discussed with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Needless to say, modifications are possible from the exemplary embodiments without departing in any sense from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, control means may be provided which may be so adjustable as to start operation of the sewing machine at the beginning of the zip fastener and terminated when the end of the zip fastener is reached. Also, other means are provided for clamping the garment and zip fastener to the workpiece support means, for instance clamps provided at the opposite ends of the workpiece support means adjacent the respective ends of the zip fastener.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in an apparatus for sewing a zip fastener to a supporting article, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. Apparatus for securing a zip fastener to a supporting article, comprising a sewing machine having at least one sewing needle; support means for supporting an article and a zip fastener in requisite relative positions for sewing of one to the other by said sewing needle; moving means for moving at least said support means and said zip fastener and article thereon, in a predetermined path with reference to said needle; and holding means mounted on said support means for holding said article and zip fastener in said positions on said support means for movement with the latter and of said zip fastener and article with reference to said needle.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1; further comprising supply means accommodating a supply quantity of said zip fastener; withdrawing means for withdrawing from said supply quantity a requisite length of zip fastener; and severing means for severing the thus withdrawn length preparatory to positioning thereof on said support means in requisite position relative to said article.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2; and further comprising affixing means for affixing end stops to the severed length prior to positioning of the latter on said support means.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, said support means having a supporting surface provided with a plurality of projecting pins, and said holding means comprising a holding member mounted for movement toward said supporting surface so as to engage a zip fastener and article on said supporting surface and displace them toward the same to thereby effect penetration of said pins through and connection of said zip fastener and article with said support means for movement with the same.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, said holding member having a face juxtaposed with said surface for engaging said zip fastener and said article, and said holding member being stationary so that said support means with said zip fastener and article are displaced by said moving means in said predetermined path with reference to said face of said holding member.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein said face of said holding member comprises groove means so positioned that portions of said pins which penetrate said article and zip fastener extend into said groove means for sliding movement relative to said face in response to displacement of said support means.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, said support means having a supporting surface; said holding means comprising a holding member movable into clamping engagement with said surface to thereby clamp a zip fastener and article resting on said surface between the latter and said holding member; and wherein said moving means is associated with said support means and said holding means for effecting movement of the same in unison in said predetermined path.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 7, said holding means further comprising actuating means for moving said holding member towards and away from said surface of said support means.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8, said actuating means comprising a lever mounted on said support means for pivoting movement and having a free end located above said surface, and wherein said holding member is provided on said free end.

10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9; and further comprising a cylinder and piston unit associated with said lever at an other end thereof for imparting pivoting movement to said lever in a sense moving said holding member toward and away from said surface. 

1. Apparatus for securing a zip fastener to a supporting article, comprising a sewing machine having at least one sewing needle; support means for supporting an article and a zip fastener in requisite relative positions for sewing of one to the other by said sewing needle; moving means for moving at least said support means and said zip fastener and article thereon, in a predetermined path with reference to said needle; and holding means mounted on said support means for holding said article and zip fastener in said positions on said support means for movement with the latter and of said zip fastener and article with reference to said needle.
 2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1; further comprising supply means accommodating a supply quantity of said zip fastener; withdrawing means for withdrawing from said supply quantity a requisite length of zip fastener; and severing means for severing the thus withdrawn length preparatory to positioning thereof on said support means in requisite position relative to said article.
 3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2; and further comprising affixing means for affixing end stops to the severed length prior to positioning of the latter on said support means.
 4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, said support means having a supporting surface provided with a plurality of projecting pins, and said holding means comprising a holding member mounted for movement toward said supporting surface so as to engage a zip fastener and article on said supporting surface and displace them toward the same to thereby effect penetration of said pins through and connection of said zip fastener and article with said support means for movement with the same.
 5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, said holding member having a face juxtaposed with said surface for engaging said zip fastener and said article, and said holding member being stationary so that said support means with said zip fastener and article are displaced by said moving means in said predetermined path with reference to said face of said holding member.
 6. Apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein said face of said holding member comprises groove means so positioned that portions of said pins which penetrate said articlE and zip fastener extend into said groove means for sliding movement relative to said face in response to displacement of said support means.
 7. Apparatus as defined in claim 1, said support means having a supporting surface; said holding means comprising a holding member movable into clamping engagement with said surface to thereby clamp a zip fastener and article resting on said surface between the latter and said holding member; and wherein said moving means is associated with said support means and said holding means for effecting movement of the same in unison in said predetermined path.
 8. Apparatus as defined in claim 7, said holding means further comprising actuating means for moving said holding member towards and away from said surface of said support means.
 9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8, said actuating means comprising a lever mounted on said support means for pivoting movement and having a free end located above said surface, and wherein said holding member is provided on said free end.
 10. Apparatus as defined in claim 9; and further comprising a cylinder and piston unit associated with said lever at an other end thereof for imparting pivoting movement to said lever in a sense moving said holding member toward and away from said surface. 